In the past few years, a boom of new tools have helped to demystify SEO (search engine optimization) for marketers. Instead of seeing SEO as a bunch of technical, hand-wavy tricks meant to hack the system, smart marketing teams have shifted toward an understanding of SEO as a way to help provide value to potential customers by making it easier for them to find what they’re looking for.

But while SEO hygiene should absolutely be a key component of all marketing efforts, a full-on targeted SEO overhaul may not be the cure-all for every business. That’s because successful search engine ranking hinges on one key component: search volume.

When SEO works best

Almost every SEO strategy depends on people already searching for whatever it is you’re trying to rank on. When there’s existing search volume for the keywords you’re targeting, this can be fantastic. All that’s left up to you is to develop a ranking strategy for a specific page on your website or a keyword, and then slowly try to make progress on it.

You can even go upstream from your product offering to try to grab search volume on slightly different topics if you think your target customer is searching for them. For instance, if you’re a clothing retailer, you can try to rank on terms like “summer 2017 beach styles” and try to grab your audience’s attention on the first page of Google that way.

When SEO doesn't work well

But what if you’re offering something new that people aren’t searching for yet? OR what if the product or service you offer just doesn’t have enough search volume to justify an SEO strategy? Then what do you do?

If you have a strong idea of who you’re targeting, this could be a great chance to use targeted advertising on social media.

While the notion of paid advertising used to be considered anathema to inbound marketers, it’s become clear in the past few years that, when used in concert with a carefully-built inbound strategy, it can be really useful.

How to advertise in an inbound way

Instead of creating intrusive banner ads that show up everywhere your audience looks online, you should target your customers based on who they are. When creating the content of your ads, you should also— in keeping with the founding ideals of inbound marketing— seek to provide value. The goal of ads, as with SEO, is to make it easier for customers to find you.

The key to successful paid advertising on any social network is start with a thorough understanding of your audience. This allows you to focus in on exactly the people you’re looking to attract, and to keep your ad budget in check. Armed with this crucial information, it’s easy to use a combination of demographic factors and interests to build a profile of exactly who you’re looking to address.

Once you’ve built initial ads and have attracted visitors to your site, it’s easy to use retargeting (or platform-specific versions of it, such as Facebook pixel) to re-engage your audience. This allows you to show them a different message to get them to return to your site, instead of the original message you show to new people.

SEO can be fantastic when it works, but it’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all strategy. Since some companies and industries just don’t get enough search volume, it’s wise to try other methods to attract your audience to your site. Targeted advertising on social media can be a great place to start.